Nathalie Gem E.

Juanillo

Mr. Cecilio Kwok Pedro Mr. Cecilio Kwok Pedro is the CEO and President of Lamoiyan Corporation which is popularly known as makers of the first Filipino toothpaste brand, Hapee toothpaste. He is born of Filipino-Chinese descent and he is a Business Management graduate of the Ateneo de Manila University and has received numerous awards and citations, including one of the Ten Outstanding Young Men award for business entrepreneurship. He began his life in the business industry as the owner of Aluminum Containers, Inc which was the major supplier of aluminum collapsible toothpaste tubes of multinational consumer goods giants Colgate-Palmolive and Philippine Refining Company - now Unilever Philippines. But when a major shift occurred in the toothpaste segment both these companies junked their aluminum packaging for plastic laminated tubes. This caused the close down of Aluminum Containers, Inc. But Mr. Pedro didnt give up. He used his existing facilities and a lot of adamant determination and hard work and founded Lamoiyan Corporation. Mr. Cecilio K. Pedro is also a longtime Christian and for all the logic and deliberation that went into building Lamoiyan , Pedro acknowledges a very important factor to his success: faith. Apart from his strong spirituality, Pedro has also won the admiration for his work in helping people with disabilities, particularly the hearing-impaired. As chairman of the Deaf Evangelistic Alliance Foundation, Inc., he has helped in bringing free education to hundreds of dead-mute Filipinos, some of whom are also employed at Lamoiyan. For Pedro, success really boils down to grabbing opportunities, both in terms of making profits and helping others. Giving back Mr. Pedro is proud to have a hearing-impaired staff in his factory, whom he describes as well-trained, competent, and always quietly working on the shop floor. Providing employment to the marginalized is one of the ways he gives back to society. With his low-priced Kutitap brand, he effectively helps Filipino families belonging to the C, D, and E markets access dental care. For his achievements in entrepreneurship and corporate social responsibility, he received several recognitions, including the Socially Responsible Entrepreneur Award in 2004 (the first Filipino bestowed with that honor), the Outstanding Filipino Retailer by the Philippine Retailers Association in 2001, the Ten Outstanding Young Men for Business Leadership in 1991, and the Agora Award for Outstanding Achievement in Entrepreneurship in 1991.